65 || Hunt For The Twin Tailed Aural Beast (1)

[Chain Quest: Hunt For The Twin Tailed Aural Beast Has Begun]

[Task 1/2: Find The Twin Tailed Aural Beast]

[Task 2/2: Hunt or Befriend The Twin Tailed Aural Beast]

[Bonus Task: ???]

These are the 4 notifications that Tara is greeted with upon arriving in Beiling's training cave. Tara certainly wasn't expecting a Quest! This meant that what she was going to experience was connected to her overall Story instead of local to her environment. Meeting her spiritual guardians and finding the hidden clans had caused ripples around her, so this time would be no different.

Tara inspects the area. It had clearly not been used in some time but the floor was matted, a small pool of crystal clear water sits in the corner, and some hunting tools lay beside the pool. As she circles around Tara does notice an illusion array at the entrance. She takes a moment to reaffirm the array and enhance it with the ancient script.

This cave, she had been told, is in the outer section of the Asoyu Mountains. Her quarry is said to be somewhere within the inner section. Tara double checks her spatial ring once more before weaving and bending light around herself. Gone is her Dark Saber uniform and instead is a simple hiker's outfit. This way she wouldn't draw too much attention as she searched.

Judging by the sun's position as she exits the cave, it's almost 3 pm. She extends her lunar sense and almost immediately clocks several powerful Aural Beasts in her area. Startled, she retracts her senses and steps back into the cave. These mountains were unlike anywhere she had been before.

Tara exits now with Moonlit Prowl to high her presence. She takes her time as she enters the inner section, noting several rare plants and trees she had only read about. Tara decides she'll have to come back this way later to do some harvesting and gathering.

After about an hour, the sound of combat meets her ears. Tara lightly jumps from tree to tree in the direction, eventually stopping near a clearing. A fancy tent sits on the edge of the clearing as ten Bone Crystallization high stage aurators fight against a large Vein Plating Aural Beast. A young man in expensive robes sits on a fainting chair eating fruit, as a heavily armored Billowing Muscles mid stage.

"You know Garos, I think my father will be happy with the work here even if we can't find that rumored twin-tail." The teen laughs as he watches his guards fight against the Aural Beast.

"With our group I'm certain we'll find that creature, Young Master." The knight at his side nods before something trips their senses. They look over their shoulder in Tara's direction but she's already disappeared.

"Are they the only ones looking for the twin tailed Aural Beast?" Tara wonders as she begins to head in the opposite direction. That would make things more complicated if she has to clash with some country's other forces. Tara spends some time looking around to see if there are any other groups. After a couple of hours she finds four other groups:

Other than the young master and his entourage, Tara has found two groups of animus aurators, one from Sharost and the other one the nation of Critys. The last group she finds is of indecipherable origin as all seven of their appearances are obscured by cloaks and headwraps.

One of the seven vanishes from her sight as she spies on them from behind a tree. Tara stumbles back onto her butt as a figure appears before her. The basket on her back falls onto the ground as plants and herbs she had picked up along the way spill out.

"I--I'm sorry! I just heard some noise and got curious. My sister she's sick." Tara lies as a saber is pointed at her throat. A whistle from one of the other's draws this person's attention.

"Leave them be, she's just a child." A gruff voice says with a wave of their hand. The person sheathes their blade and leaves.

Tara's eyes narrow at their backs. From a quick energy signature scan each one of them had completely reached high stage Bone Crystallization before reaching Vein Plating. The gruff voice leader she couldn't even guess, but he was definitely several stages above her. Why would such a group be looking for the twin tailed Aural Beast?

Tara will have to hurry. If these people found it before her, she'd have little chance of getting the twin tailed Aural Beast back. She disappears from her spot to continue her search in a less populated area. The sun is starting to dip and on her way several Aural Beasts attack her due to her hiding her true strength.

Since it was getting dark, Tara decides to take her time dismantling the few Beasts. If the twin-tailed Beast is as intelligent as rumored then surely it would hide under the cover of night.

The last time she was outside the Academy, Oorun and Wolyung had alerted her of danger. However, they are in a healing hibernation, so Tara takes precautions. She lays down some animal traps and sets up a few alarms. As she does so Tara wonders if the Eight Sword Inscription department has figured out how to make the messenger scrolls. She'll have to ask when she returns.

The moment one of her alarms rings, Tara's on her feet. She's in the middle of taking down her tent when those who had set it off arrive on the scene. On the back of a horse is the young master she had first seen. His guards march on either side of his horse while the knight takes the rear, their senses taking over a wider area.

"Oh, um, good morning let me just get out of your way." Tara says as she hurried attempts to finish taking down her tent.

"How did a peasant like you make it this deep within these mountains, especially a child?" The young master questions with a scoff. He squints at her before noticing the ring on her finger. The energy it gives off is similar to the two spatial rings he has on each hand. Just what is going on?

"Give me your ring." He demands and Tara stops her packing before straightening her back.

"I'm sorry, sir?" She asks as she turns to face him, her face contorted in confusion.

"If you won't give it to me, then I'll just take it," He sneers and waves a hand. Five of his guards, all wielding spears, begin to circle Tara. Only two of them are semi-reluctant to do so but they can't go against his orders. One of them reaches to grab Tara but they soon find themselves on their back from an overthrow.

"I don't have a conflict with you. Leave me alone please!" Tara hopes her display will diffuse the situation. The knight in the back, face hidden from the world, raises an eyebrow but it's too late to say anything. Their master is furious.

"You useless things! Just kill her and get me that ring!" He shrieks, causing some of them to huff under their breath while the others eagerly raise their killing intent.

Tara exhales as she takes a stance, her white aura blossoming around her body. Fighting ten real enemies is different from the Tower Trial. Luckily, the five that faced her were not accustomed to working together. She ducks at the swipe of her head before side stepping another strike. Tara flicks her wrist to redirect the shaft of another spear and then brings up her knee to block the fourth. The fifth flies in quickly but between her aura and her Light Woven clothes, the blade can't pierce her!

Tara uses Twin Sphere Body Arts to deflect and evade their spears, since using either Hufang or Riversword Combat Arts would be recognizable. Ember Gather collides with two of the guards' stomachs to send them flying away. With an opening now, she retreats after showing off her ability. "Please back down!"

As they hesitate for a moment before stepping forward, the knight strides forward. "Go. If we cross paths again, I will not be so kind."

Tara bows to the knight and finishes packing her things, using a flicker step to create some distance.

"Garos!" The young teen barks at his knight.

"Sire." The knight's tone causes the teen to freeze. The words the knight is about to say were heavy and left room for no argument. "That girl isn't what she seems. Had she gotten serious we might be down to five men. I couldn't determine her true strength which means I likely couldn't defeat her instantly."

The young master gulped. If even Garos, the strongest knight under him, couldn't fight that girl quickly then what hope would he have if she came for his throat? Without saying another word, he clicks his tongue and directs his horse to the west. His guards follow suit after getting their broken weapon's pieces. Silence settles over the clear before several minutes pass. Tara steps out from behind a tree, letting go of a long held breath.

Tara hadn't expected for that knight to see through her so easily. They must have really honed their senses over the years to figure out she was acting weak. Rather than worrying if they'd double back, Tara goes deeper into the forest. Two more days pass, and though Tara has collected plenty of rare materials whilst evading the other parties, there's been no sign of the twin-tailed aural beast within the mountainside's forest.

She's about to give up as she uses her lunar sense to extend her senses the maximum, about 75 meters with her as the center. Something she's honed the past few days is how to distinguish energy signatures a step further. Previously, Tara would have said that animus like herself had a wilder energy than humans with Aural Beasts even more uncontrolled and unrestrained.

This is wrong, she realizes. The air of wildness is actually world energy in the atmosphere reacting their aural energies to match their elemental affinities! While such a phenomenon will happen with human aurators once they reach Vein Plating, this is an innate trait with Animus and Aural Beasts.

The stronger the Aural Beasts, the more their affinity surges around them. But what Tara is looking for is two elements in the area. This was much harder to search for as even those with dual affinity will have their primary element stand out more. Take herself for instance: Tara's aura interacting with the air made light bend around her. This only enhanced her conceal abilities as it warped the perception of those around her. However, if one looked closer they'd see shadows shifting as well...

Her Luck is high as she finally catches something. The two energies of Fire and Water are fluctuating in sync with one another. This has to be the twin-tailed Aural Beast! She heads north east until she arrives in the front of a stone circle. A heavy haze, almost a fog, surrounds the eight rock pillars. The combined element of Fire and Water is strong here.

"Hello?" Tara looks around but does not enter. A little ways beyond the stone circle is a path up the mountain. Tara puts away her daggers before taking a breath and exhaling with her lunar sense. 'I'm here to help you. Are you okay?'

From the other side of the stone circle walks several illusionary, but mist silver foxes. One tail is crimson red while the other is cyan blue. Ferocious black eyes glare at her with bared fangs revealed from a growling maw. They are clearly distractions of the Marrow Sparking high stage Aural Beast and yet--

'How do I know you aren't here to kill me?' A voice younger than hers projects into her head from one of them. They were still a child at least in terms of mentality.

[Task 1/3: Find The Twin Tailed Aural Beast Complete!]

[Reward 1: Skill Book, Illusionary Circle Step]